Remembering the Forgotten
by MorteSangriz
Summary: The execution of Portgas D. Ace left many people reeling- the son of the Pirate King, at last put to death. A war had been fought, the world changed, and only broken hearts remained in the wake of the nightmare at Marineford. But Portgas D. Ace had been more than just the Pirate King's son. He had been a brother, a pirate, a lover.


_**Don't go far off, not even for a day**_

"He loved you, you know." The man's voice quietly commented from behind her, his soft voice almost unheard over the angry crashing of the ocean waves and the wailing howls of the wind that tore at them both.

 _ **Don't go far off, not even for a day**_

She was quiet; throat tight as she stared unseeingly at the carved memorial before her. The wind shrieked one last time before falling silent. The ocean threw itself against the cliffside and all she could think was that _he_ would have loved this place, it was beautiful and untamed and free.

Just like he was... Or had been.

 _ **Because I don't know how to say it-**_

They stood there for what felt an eternity, watching the flowers rustle in the wind and waiting for the other to break the silence that pressed heavy upon them both.

The man spoke first.

"He never stopped talking about you and there were times when I wanted to throw him overboard when he just wouldn't shut up about how perfect you were." He let out a forced laugh, pain audible even with how quiet it was. "When he brought up the idea of you joining the crew to us, we called him Lover-boy for weeks."

She made no move and even when silence slid over them once more, she did not speak.

"He loved you from the start."

She dug her nails into her palm and tried to blink away the tears that burned her eyes.

The man stepped closer to her as she started to tremble, and stopped before reaching her.

"He loved you from the day you saved him from drowning in his soup and broke his nose for using your shirt as a napkin."

Her legs shook and the constriction in her throat worsened when the red beads of _his_ hat clinked softly against each other.

"He needed you to stay safe for his sanity. He would have rather died than see any harm come to you. That's why he didn't tell you what he was planning- he knew you would have wanted to come with him and he wasn't willing to risk your life."

The blonde stopped and she knew that in that moment his eyes caught on the name carved onto the gravestone, the name her eyes hadn't left since she'd gotten there.

 _ **A day is long**_

 _Portgas D. Ace._

 _ **And I will be waiting for you, as in**_

Marco sucked in a shaky breath and after a long pause, spoke again -although this time he couldn't disguise the pain that cloaked his words. "Ace and the old man are... Gone. And the family I have left are either dead, in prison, or in hiding."

Tears leaked past her defenses and soon enough, she was weeping.

 _ **An empty station when the trains are**_

"He-" Marco began, the words catching in his throat, "Ace."

The name of her lost love struck her right in the heart and she gasped at the freshness of the pain that washed over her. It was raw and bloody and Emilia wondered if this kind of agony ever faded. Did the pain of a broken heart ever lessen?

 _ **Parked off somewhere else, asleep.**_

Every word that Marco said cut through the fog she had enveloped herself in. Didn't he know that she just wanted to fade away?

"Ace told me, right before he went after Blackbeard," They both flinched at the name; the name of the man responsible for the destruction of the people they both loved. "He told me something that he made me swear to never tell the rest of the crew."

Emilia held her breath and waited for the words to come.

"He loved you so fucking much," Marco croaked out.

 _ **Don't leave me, even for an hour, because then**_

"Ace loved you more than the sea."

 _ **The little drops of anguish will all run together**_

Everything inside her crumpled at once- cracked glass heart at last fracturing under the loss it had suffered, sending shards deep into her veins.

She dropped to her knees, hands digging furrows into the soil and screamed her sorrow at the sky.

 _ **The smoke that roams looking for a home will drift**_

Marco reached for Emilia, but froze and dropped his hand before actually touching her. He shoved his hand in his pocket and lifted his head to the sky, pretending he didn't notice the tremors wracking her body or the way her crying sounded as broken as she looked.

 _ **Into me, choking my lost heart.**_

It was so hard to breathe.

Would it have made any difference if she had been there?

Why hadn't it been her instead?

The scent of the flowers around her weighed heavy on her lungs, and that itself felt like a curse; the fact that she was still breathing.

She was alive, and Ace wasn't.

 _ **Oh, may your silhouette never dissolve**_

Emilia shut her eyes, and imagined that the warmth of the sun was the warmth of _his_ skin; that when she opened her eyes he would be there; alive; happy; _smiling._ She felt a soft caress slide across her damp cheeks and her brown eyes fluttered open to see…

That nothing had changed. It had been nothing more than the wind.

Ace had promised her the world, swore his love for her was greater than the love that made him who he was; his love of the sea. She didn't deserve to be one he loved so much; she had never even told him she loved him.

Throat constricted, soul aching, eyes burning; Emilia gulped air down and said the words that had been sitting on her heart for the two years he'd been gone.

"I let him die thinking I didn't love him. He always told me how much he loved me and yet I never said the words back. I wasn't there when he _died_ , Marco. He died in his brother's arms and I wasn't there to tell him I was so fucking glad that he had been born because it meant I got to fall in love with him. And now it's too late to tell him anything-"

 _ **On the beach, may your eyelids never flutter**_

"He knew." Marco interrupted sharply.

"Emilia, he knew." Marco repeated in a softer voice. "Ace _knew_ that you loved him back, he knew and that made him the happiest man on any sea we sailed on. He could see it in your eyes every time they met his, he could hear it every time you said his name. You didn't have to say the words for him to know. "

The tremors running through her body intensified and he saw her suck in a ragged breath.

 _ **Into the empty distance.**_

Emilia pounded her fists against the ground as her throat grew hoarse from the wail that escaped her lips. Her crying was loud now, screaming overcome with sorrow that made every wracking breath she took all the more painful to watch.

 _ **Don't leave me for**_

When her voice had failed her and the earth beneath her was wet with her despair- she crawled to the cold marble grave. She moved as if the marble of the tomb pressed down upon her very bones. She rested her cheek upon it as sobs still wracked her body.

"Why did you die, Ace?" She asked quietly.

 _ **A second, my dearest, because in that moment you'll**_

Two years. For two years she had wandered, living like a ghost on the verge of disappearing; holding on to the hope that it was all a mistake, that it hadn't been his vivre card that had burnt to ashes in her hands- that it hadn't been his smiling corpse on the newpapers.

Two years. It took her two years to gather the strength to hunt Marco down using the vivre card he had given her in case of emergencies and beg him to take her to the Ace's grave.

It took two years for her to come this far and only a few hours to realize that he was truly gone.

 _ **Have gone so far I'll wander mazily**_

Day turned to night, and the crashing of the ocean waves soon became louder than the sound of a heart trying to put itself back together but not knowing what to do about the pieces it was missing.

 _ **Over all the earth, asking, will you come back?**_

"Marco... What am I supposed to do now?" The small woman exhaustedly asked, finally breaking the silence that had descended between them as her crying came to an end.

Marco paused and thought it over. "I suppose you could always go back to your village."

Emilia shook her head and shakily stood from her place besides Ace's grave.

"There's nothing for me there, not anymore. My place was by his side- but he's gone now."

The wind caressed her face and she tried to glue her mask back together, though the cracks showed through.

"Take me with you."

Marco froze," I can't do that."

Emilia smiled faintly at him. "Yes, you can."

"Ace wouldn't have wanted me to put your life in danger." Marco weakly argued.

"Ace would have wanted me to find happiness again." Emilia softly replied.

The blonde closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, "I know he would've."

"So let me come with you."

Marco sighed. "If you do, then I hope you know it's only for the time being. You're getting off the moment we find a suitable place for you to stay in."

Emilia nodded and murmured quietly. "I know."

"Come on then, the ship is waiting for us."

 _ **Will you leave me here, dying?**_


End file.
